Hunting Exotics on high fenced game ranches. Is it really hunting?

[Smart]

Hunting Exotics on high fenced game ranches. Is it really hunting?

RiverRat......rollover and hand AC back his phone!!..[emoji2957][emoji23][emoji23]

[J.B.]

its ok to do it, just don't brag about it LOL

[Drycreek3189]

I'm curious as to what your opinion really is about hunting exotics here in Texas. Specifically the ones behind 200-600 acre, high fenced operations that buy the animals, and turn them out to be shot. I've been to, and hunted on several day leases/weekend game ranches/ etc.. I enjoy doing it, and also the time spent with friends, family, and fellow hunters. That being said, when I have the guide drop me off at a blind with a feeder out front and see 10-20 different animals as soon as it goes off, am I really hunting? There are some animals that in my mind I'm fine with hunting like this. I've killed Blackbuck, Fallow, and Rams before. I plan on getting an Axis buck the same way. For me personally, some other animals, native to Africa for example, I can't see killing at a day ranch here in Texas. Kudu, Zebra, Gemsbok, are just a few. It just doesn't seem like an accomplishment. I know I'm rambling. I also know there are several sponsors on here that make a living selling these hunts. I've been to several of these places, and will continue to do so. I've enjoyed all my hunting trips to these places, but there's a little part of me that knows it's not truly hunting. Just my opinion of course. What are your thoughts?

Without reading any replies I will say that I feel exactly like you do. It’s not hunting like I have hunted all my life, but it’s still an adventure. Mine has been a grocery shopping expedition with some friends or just my wife and I. I love axis meat, and T-4 Exotics is where I shop. It’s a nice getaway with some very good eating at the end.

[WItoTX]

No it's not hunting. Plain and simple. Cows come running to the feed trough much the same. I guess I would consider it harvesting more than anything.

But there is more to it. You mention all the other aspects, the getting together with friends, being outside, travelling to different area's, getting to see animals from other continents interact with one another, meat in your freezer, and most of all, your money you spend goes to conserve species half way across the planet. I don't recall what animals specifically, but Texas has a greater population of multiple African species than Africa does (Tigers too, but that's a different continent). That's pretty cool and all because you are willing to pay for it. All those things are great, and beneficial to hunting, and conservation in general.

The short story is, HF hunting is very nuanced. There is good and bad, the key is recognizing both sides.

[denimdeerslayer]

I'm there for meat not a lot of walking around. And you dont always come back with what you were after either.

[Radar]

RiverRat......rollover and hand AC back his phone!!..[emoji2957][emoji23][emoji23]

[slayer]

I have hunted alot of high fence places. Some were easy, some were tough. As Buff said, when you pinpoint one animal and hunt them exclusively, that changes all the diameters of the hunt. I think you do what you want and quit worrying about what every body else thinks!

[breederbuck33]

I went on an axis doe hunt last year with a vendor of mine. My intention was that it was a canned hunt type deal, and I just wanted the meat. 200 acres in rock springs supposedly full of axis. Well this place was thick as all get out and it took me a day and a half to get one in the open long enough to shoot her. I saw plenty, but they knew the drill by the time I was out there in February which made it fun! My dad also took me on some canned deals when I was little and didn't know any better. It lit the hunting fire inside me when he did that. I really have no interest in going trophy hunting on a 200 acre place where they stock it like a pond anymore, but I sure don't judge anyone who does it. If you like it then do it! I'd also like to note, that just because it has a high fence around it does not mean its a canned hunt. I've been to several high fence places that were no different than the low fence neighbors. The only difference was they let them get older and bigger inside that fence.

[Triple 000 Buck]

Often asked myself, because i'm such a tightwad, whats the difference between killing here in Texas out of a blind under a feeder or out of a blind watching over a waterhole in Africa ?
I can save some serious coin by not having to travel all the way to Africa.
Like mentioned above if they eat out of your hand, not so much.
Would love to go to Africa though even if its just to see the wildlife.

[zztex]

its ok to do it, just don't brag about it LOL

x1,000,000

[Jared4111]

I have 400 acres high fence. axis aoudad fallow blackbuck kudu oryx elk red deer nilgai rams and a few others. I enjoy watching them. its something different and I enjoy doing it. I do sell hunts on the place and its no cake walk. I know some outfitters say the same thing but it truly is a hunt. I have multiple customers that have came for axis does and left empty handed or with a different species animal. I have around 70+ head of axis and youd think youd see them everywhere but you don't. ive told a few people that id cut the feeders off and they could go hunt the ranch with their bows for free if they killed a 32"+ axis but if they didn't kill in two days, they pay me double. no takers.

if you don't like high fence, don't hunt it. if you do, then hunt it. hf and lf arguments will never be resolved. people are always going to disagree.

[breederbuck33]

Often asked myself, because i'm such a tightwad, whats the difference between killing here in Texas out of a blind under a feeder or out of a blind watching over a waterhole in Africa ?
I can save some serious coin by not having to travel all the way to Africa.
Like mentioned above if they eat out of your hand, not so much.
Would love to go to Africa though even if its just to see the wildlife.

I think this is actually false. If you go to Africa, you're going to come home with 5+ animals. If you go shoot those same 5+ animals at the same time in Texas I bet the difference is significant. Especially if you have Kudu, Sable, or something along those lines on your list.

[Txhuntr2]

Boy, you had to rattle the cage early this morning.

This

[KX500]

I've been to a few. For some ranches/animals it has been hunting. For some ranches/animals it really wasn't. A lot of variety.

I think the biggest variable is the animals - where did they come from & how were they raised?

In general, it seems like rams/goats at these ranches are not the lease bit challenging - except maybe Aoudad. I've seen very wild Aoudad behind fences - but it seems like others have seen just the opposite.

Aside from hogs, I have mostly hunted deer (Red Stag, Sika, Fallow) with a bow, at these places. I enjoyed these hunts and it felt like hunting to me.

I have yet to see a blackbuck that didn't act pretty wild. These are on my list.

I try to get down there about every year for a hog hunt. I go to Texas because hogs are so plentiful, that I haven't found an outfitter that is trying to raise them - all wild animals trapped & released. In other states, some places do raise them and they end up much more l like a domestic pig.

One of the ranches I went to was trying to raise about every type of exotic they could. And they all seemed pretty tame. Whitetail deer wouldn't leave the feeder when you got down out of the tree stand. An example of a ranch that was good for hogs, but nothing else (in my opinion).

My first trip to Texas though was for a Red Stag. I got him the first evening out. The ranch owner was cool and said 'well you just got here - keep hunting and take a fallow doe for free (or of course anything else, not for free))". Little did I know that he had about a dozen fallow does that all ran together. Hunting them was pretty much the same as hunting whitetails - with that many sets of eyes, you simply were not going to get very close, chances of a bow shot slim to nil. I was glad to keep hunting, but later I realized that his offer was more for him than it was for me, as he know I wasn't taking home a 'free' fallow doe!

Anyway, like about anything in life some (ranches) good, some not so much and for some it'll vary according to what you want to hunt.

I like simple explanations as much as the next. But with this question the answer will sometimes be Yes & sometimes No.

It is up to you to find the places that make it hunting.

[Spearchunker]

I have never been a fan, but depends on how its being paid for.

I'm taking 5 clients in 2 weeks to 10-2-4 Ranch and dropping 40k. I'm not shooting anything....

I see it as an easy entertainment hunt with almost guaranteed success and opportunity to hang with friends.

Sean